


Heart-to-Heart

by Misskiku



Series: Bederia Goodness [10]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Fluff, bederiaweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:02:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22902130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misskiku/pseuds/Misskiku
Summary: Bederia Week Day 5: Soulmates
Relationships: Beet | Bede/Yuuri | Gloria
Series: Bederia Goodness [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630534
Comments: 4
Kudos: 120





	Heart-to-Heart

Gloria burst into the waiting room of the Ballonlea gym with a start, slamming the door behind her and shooting Bede a panicked look. 

"Please, let me hide in here for a while!" she pleaded, stalking up to him and shooting a nervous look over her shoulder at the door. "Just for a while! Until they leave!" 

"Until who leaves?" Bede frowned. "What have you done now?" He gave her an unimpressed look, and she pouted. 

"Nothing! It's just - these reporters! They won't leave me alone and I just want some peace!" Gloria huffed, blowing out an exasperated puff of air. She plonked herself on the bench, her shoulders slumping. She sagged as if pulled down by a sudden surge of gravity. 

Bede watched her for a moment. Studied the exhaustion on her face, the shadow in her eyes. She stared at the floor, her gaze passive as if she wasn't seeing anything at all. 

"You're the Champion. A few reporters hounding you is to be expected, isn't it?" 

"Try over a dozen." She sighed, dropping her head like it was a heavy weight on her neck. 

He'd never seen her like this. Her voice flat and numb. The vibrant energy that followed her everywhere had faded, had become dull and lifeless. She was running on empty. She didn't look up from the floor between her feet. 

"Isn't that a good thing?" Bede asked, searching her eyes for a response, a flicker of emotion in her eyes. They remained dark. "You're the Champion and a hero to Galar. I would have thought you would relish in your popularity, not run away from it."

She didn't take his bait, didn't respond to his comments with more than a shrug.

A cold trickle ran down Bede's spine. A dull ache settled in his heart at the blank depth in her eyes and he sat beside her on the bench. He clenched his hands into fists on his lap, longing to reach out and comfort her, to bring back the life, the light, in her dark eyes.

"It usually doesn't bother me this much," Gloria said, and Bede snatched away the hand he'd reached out towards her shoulder. 

"Wh-What doesn't?" 

"Questions about my love life…"

Bede's heart skipped. "Oh…" 

Gloria sighed sheepishly. "Yeah, I didn't think you'd be interested to hear me complain about that…" 

"It… It doesn't interest me in the slightest, of course but… well, if you wanted to talk about it… I suppose I could lend you my ear." He stole a deep breath, trying to calm the skittering of his heart, the flustering heat in his chest. 

Gloria crossed her legs beneath her on the bench, slumping over to rest her elbows on her thighs. "It wasn't this bad until recently. After Valentine's Day it just got worse and worse and then I was seen reading the horoscope page of a magazine and now they keep asking me about my love life, if I'm dating or interested in anyone…" she grumbled in her throat, a frustrated frown narrowing her eyes. She glared at the floor as if it had personally offended her.

"They keep asking if I'm interested in Hop, or Raihan or Leon or even you sometimes!" She exhaled a sharp puff of air. "It's ridiculous!" 

A swirling heat settled in Bede's chest, making it hard to breathe. "Y-Yeah, completely ridiculous…" 

"And they're asking me if I'm going to take a date to the League Gala that's coming up, if I did anything for Valentine's Day - which I didn't answer, of course, because it's none of their damn business!" Gloria shouted that last part at the ceiling, a roar of frustrated defiance that started Bede. He flinched for a moment, freezing in place before she slumped again. 

"I hate it… I hate it because Hop's my friend and they keep suggesting there's something between us, because they keep asking me about love only because I'm a woman…!" She faced Bede with a blazing glare. "They never asked Leon anything about his love life! He got interesting questions about the future of Galar, about his strategy and undefeated streak…" The fire in her voice slowly petered out. "They keep suggesting that Hop and I are like soulmates… like we're meant for each other because we fought Eternatus together. Because we've each got a Legendary Pokemon then that means we're somehow made for each other…" She threw her hands up in disbelief. "He's my friend. My best friend. He's… like family but they just won't listen to me…"

Bede looked at his hands, a fuzzy warmth blooming through his body. "So… you mean you don't... have feelings towards Hop?" 

Gloria huffed. "Not you, too! I don't have - and never had - romantic feelings towards Hop." 

"Sorry…" A cold wash of shame doused the heat on Bede's face. 

"No, it's okay…" She shrugged. "I can see why you'd think that - why everyone seems to think that. But… to say that we're soulmates, that we're made for one another… it's completely ignoring our feelings, our free will to choose who we love. It's not so simple as having a soulmate who you just fit perfectly together with… Love is not that easy." 

A deeper, darker pain hollowed out her eyes. There was something more to her words, something personal and painful, a wound that had never fully healed.

There was nothing Bede could say. 

"Sorry," Gloria laughed suddenly, embarrassed and forceful. "I didn't mean to get all mopey on you. I guess love's a bit of a touchy subject for me." She glanced at him with a sheepish smile. "You know, I've never even been in love myself. How stupid is that!" 

Her laughter, the deprecating jab at herself, drove a sliver of glass into Bede's heart. "That's not stupid." 

She stopped laughing and looked at him. 

"Not… not that it matters to me if you've ever been in love before, but I wouldn't call it stupid." He looked to the floor, unable to meet her surprised gaze. "If anything, something like love can be a nuisance; a distraction." 

"You speaking from experience?" 

Bede's heart leapt into his mouth, lodging high in his throat so he couldn't breathe. 

Gloria patted his arm lightly. "Sorry, that was a poor joke. Forget it. I'm… not acting like myself today. Sorry…" 

Her gaze became far-off, eyes glazing over as she stared towards the wall, unseeing and unfocused. Something swirled behind her eyes that Bede couldn't place. 

"I shouldn't let it get to me like this but… it just brings so much back, stuff I thought I'd gotten over years ago and…" She sighed, resting her forehead in her hand. "I almost snapped at the reporters before I came here. They were asking me about soulmates and love at first sight and I just… if I didn't see a sky taxi land nearby then, let's just say that I might've broken a few cameras instead…"

"Why does it bother you so much?" Bede asked gently. "It's unusual to see you so irritated like this." 

"It's…" She dropped her hand from her face, pain flickering in her eyes. "It's because of my Father." 

Silence fell like the sudden clap of darkness in a blackout. Cold and foreign and empty. Not a breath of sound between them, not even Bede's heartbeat as it froze into ice in his chest. 

Gloria fiddled with the hem of her dress. "He's… not around anymore but when I was young, I thought my parents were made for each other. I thought they'd always be together. Like soulmates." She shrugged, the movement stiff. "Maybe that's why I don't want to fall in love. I know just how much it can hurt." 

Gloria raised her head, looked at Bede hesitantly, when he gently touched her arm. The nervous yet comforting gesture brought the slightest smile to her face. Her eyes softened. She rested her hand over his, curled her fingers around his hand in a silent gesture of understanding, of warmth.

"I… know how much things like that can hurt. I never knew my parents," Bede began, slowly looking away, "and the Chairman was everything to me. He sent me to the best Trainer's school, gave me my first Pokemon, a place where I thought I belonged. In the end, it was all…" A pause. He swallowed, a tight, painful lump in his throat. "He didn't even remember my name." 

Gloria pulled Bede's hand from her arm and held it tight. He shot a quick glance to their joined hands before casting his eyes away. 

"Everything I thought he'd given me, those birthday gifts he never forgot, the clothes and gear I'd asked for, had all been Oleana's doing. It was never him. Even this…" Bede lifted his arm, the large, golden watch sliding loosely. "It stopped long ago but I can't… bring myself to throw it away. Not yet." 

Gloria squeezed his hand. "He meant a lot to you. You don't get over something like that easily." 

Bede stared off for a moment. Slowly, he wrapped his fingers around Gloria's in return, echoing her comforting squeeze. "I suppose so." 

"Look at us, having a good ol' heart-to-heart," Gloria said, smiling gently at Bede. The beginnings of tears glistened in her eyes. She swiped the tears away with the back of her free hand. "Arceus, what is wrong with me today?"

"You seem pretty normal to me. When don't you get emotional over things?" 

Gloria scoffed, but a smile grew on her face. "You are so mean!" She laughed, incredulous and light. "I don't cry that often!" 

"Perhaps, but I distinctly remember you getting teary at a newly-hatched Cleffa the other day." 

"It was too cute!" 

"And my point has been made." 

She rolled her eyes. "You've gotta release your emotions one way or another! We can't all be grumpy-pants like you all the time." 

Bede raised an eyebrow at her. "Excuse me?"

Gloria laughed. "Ah, I feel much better now!" She released his hand and stretched, arching her back with a satisfied sigh. Bede's hand felt too empty, too cold. He flexed his fingers as if trying to recall the feeling of her hand in his. 

She stood and turned to face him, the light in her eyes softening her smile. "Thanks Bede. I'll remember that I can escape here if they bother me again."

Bede nodded. "I'll get a staff member to check the exits before you leave. If they're still hanging around after that then I'm sure I'll come up with a way to get them to leave." A cunning smile crept up his face, a sharp glint in his eyes as an idea formed. 

"Uh-oh! I think they've made an enemy of Bede," Gloria laughed. "Don't scare them too badly. I don't want you to lose all your sponsors because you terrified some pathetic reporters." 

"I'm not sure I can promise to go easy on them." 

"I know." She smiled at him with mirth, a giddy twitch to the corner of her mouth as she bit back a larger grin. 

"Gym Leader Bede?" a staff member called, opening the door to the waiting room. "The next challenge has arrived." 

"I'd wish you good luck, but I know you don't need it," Gloria said. 

Bede nodded, her smile sending rays of gentle warmth through his body. A rush of energy flooded his veins. "I'll make this quick." 

They shared a grin, a glance of mutual understanding, a deeper connection forged between them. A bond that had connected them long ago, threads of fate tying them together, growing stronger and stronger as they became closer and closer. A bond of their own creation. Their own decisions, their own choices. 

A destiny of their own making.


End file.
